How To Restore Faded Car Interior Plastic - Interior Cleaning & Detailing Tips

Over time UV damage will fade our car's interior including black plastic, interior panels, car trim and dashboards. In this blog post we cover how to clean, restore faded plastic and protect your plastic trim.

One of our trusted experts, Spencer Mac, did a step by step comparison below of Torque Detail’s Plastic Restore and 303 Aerospace Protectant Spray.

After prepping my interior, I applied Plastic Restore to all the interior plastic and trim, excluding the trunk area and a small portion of the dash. Plastic Restore did a great job, very consistent color wise.

The black trim, vinyl and rubber gaskets all became darker. I really liked how well it restored the lighter panel sections, unfortunately, the lighting changed between photos so before/after differences (pictures below) is not as well represented. Safe to say it's a great trim restorer.

The car interior has many plastic parts and that includes the trunk. Plastic Restore was used on the left and 303 Aerospace on the right. Color wise, the plastics both returned to a dark glossy finish. In person you cannot see any difference in color between the products. In the picture, it does appear that 303 might be slightly darker in some areas but that difference is due to the bottles reflecting off the surface. The Plastic Restore were closer to the trim compared to the 303, so it appears slightly lighter.

• Color Depth: No visible difference in person.
• Color Consistency: 303 produced streaks that I had to go over a few times to get them to blend properly. Plastic Restore did not display this behavior.
• Ease of Application: Both were easy to apply but I was not concerned about Plastic Restore getting onto fabric as it didn't have an unpleasant odor and I tested it to make sure it was color safe. Compared to Plastic Restore, 303 has a thicker consistency so it doesn't run as much, but produced streaking which required additional effort to remove.
• Fumes and Smell: Plastic Restore had a nice and pleasant smell with no harsh fumes. 303 Aerospace had an intense chemical odor.

Overall, I like this product. I used maybe 2 ounces to do the entire interior and that was with excessive application. The thing I really liked about Plastic Restore was that it achieved solid results while having a high safety profile, meaning that if I over-sprayed or it dripped onto fabric I wasn't worried about damaging anything or having to deal with a chemical odor.

The only thing I didn't like was the consistency ( I would prefer a dry foam, like shaving cream, but that doesn't exist). The thinness of the liquid and how quickly it ran was something that had me somewhat concerned when applying it around electronics & door controls, but I was just mindful of those areas and it wasn't a problem. - Spencer Mac

Plastic Restore will help you clean grime off your door panels, interior panels, dashboard and any plastic surface. It also cleans any exterior plastic or vinyl!

No applicator is needed! We recommend applying it with a simple microfiber towel or sponge. It will restore faded plastic back to black and is a protectant that provides a protective layer against harmful UV rays. No longer do you need an expensive heat gun instead do it yourself by simply spraying on and wipe off.

Get you car looking like new in minutes with Plastic Restore!